OS family POSIX based on Debian Source model Open source | Working state Current | |
Developer Lorenzo Faletra, Lisetta Ferrero, Francesco Bonanno, Frozenbox network Initial release 10 April 2013 (2013-04-10) Latest release 3.5 / March 8, 2017; 14 days ago (2017-03-08) | ||
Parrot Security OS (or ParrotSec) is a GNU/LINUX distribution based on Debian with a focus on computer security. It is designed for penetration testing, vulnerability assessment and mitigation, computer forensics and anonymous web browsing. It is developed by the Frozenbox Team.
Contents
Target
ParrotSec is intended to provide a lightweight environment that is widely compatible. It offers many tools designed for web and computer systems analysis, including a lab dedicated to forensic digital use, with legally distributed tools and the ability to work with cryptography, offering a wide range possibilities. Additionally, it allows users to browse and work anonymously online.
Core
Parrot is based on Debian's testing branch (stretch), with a custom Linux 4.9 kernel. It follows a rolling release development model.
The desktop environment is MATE, and the default display manager is LightDM.
The project is certified to run on devices which have a minimum of 256MB of RAM, and it is suitable for both 32-bit (i386) and 64-bit (amd64) processor architectures. Moreover, the project is available for ARMv7 (armhf) architectures. It even offers an edition (both 32-bit and 64-bit) developed specifically for servers to carry out cloud service penetration testing.
Release frequency
The development team has not specified any official release timeline, but based on release changelogs and the notes included in the official review of the distribution, the project will be released on a monthly basis.